VeNICE, Italia

Just got back from Venezia, Italia! Definitely one of the most touristy places we’ve visited but rightfully so! It is so beautiful and unique. We felt very in our element among other “MUST not miss a photo-opp” travelers.

Crazed tourists exhibit A:

There are no cars on the main island of Venice, just channels of water with cute little gondolas and singing men wearing funny hats. There are also the less charming but still cool water taxis and ferrys. Our hotel was EONS away from the main island of venice which was both good and bad. We were able to see more of Venice and ride the gondola downgrades but also had to travel close to an hour to get to the mainland and walk down more than a comforting number of dark, graffiti-ed alley ways…

Carnival = the perfect mix of mardis gras and Halloween + gelato

Wish I could give a little synopsis on the history and origins of the venetian carnival tradition but we all still have no idea.. haha Everyone dresses up in crazy costumes and meanders the streets. We saw people dressed as Spiderman, car fresheners, zombies and Kelly was even attacked by “ghostbusters” running around with a net, leaf blower, huge light and music. We all bought masks which ofcourse for me was a decision making nightmare..

^Mile's mask 

I couldn’t help but think of the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas as we walked through the city. Further confirming my theory that you can travel to Disney and Vegas and experience Europe for 1/16^th the cost :P justttt kidding. But which is the real Venice below???

A.

B.

One things for sure you can’t get lost wandering aimlessly for hours on end at the venetian hotel butcha CAN in the real Venezia. Venice is tricky to navigate. You can’t help but feel like you’re in a mouse maze. We stuck to the wander-until-you-see-something-importantlooking/GELATO-approach. Never fails.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Destiny’s child say my name has FINALLY rung through Europe. The last place I would ever expect, a random hole-in-the-wall bar in the middle of Venice. This was enough to make my weekend/semester complete and push Venice up to top three favorite cities.

Saturday we took a ferry to the island of Murano, famous for it’s glass blowing. I somehow managed to miss the live glass-blowing demonstration but it’s youtube-able so I’ll just pretend. The glass was beautiful. Everything from tiny glass hippos to jewelry and pretty bowls with no apparent function. Every store I envisioned myself accidently knocking into something and starting a domino effect of glass sculptures… so glass souvenir shopping was short lived for Marlee.

Something learned: Italians are NOT in support of multiple ice cream samples before you make your choice...